SOHR: Turkish shelling kills child, injures several civilians in northern Syria

Turkish forces shelled Syria’s northern towns of Kobane and Tal Tamir over the past 24 hours, killing a 14-year-old child and several other civilians, the Kurdish internal security forces (Asayish) said on Tuesday.

Asayish said in a statement that Turkey shelled Tal Tamir and its vicinity, injuring three civilians. “It also began bombing the city of Kobani which resulted in the death of a 14-year-old child and the injury of five citizens, including a woman and a child.”

Key service facilities were also damaged by the attack, Asayish added.

Hawar News Agency (ANHA), a news outlet affiliated to the Kurdish administration, said those injured in Kobane are aged between two and 40 years, identifying the dead child as Abid Muhammed Haji.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) carried out a rocket attack against Turkish forces in Kobane, killing one soldier and injuring four others. The SDF has not confirmed it.

Turkish state media cited Sanliurfa Governor Salih Ayhan as saying Turkish forces on the border with Syria were attacked, adding that one soldier was killed and four other were injured along Sanliurfa borders with Kobane.

The Turkish defense ministry said in a tweet on Tuesday that their troops in different parts of northern Syria were attacked by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), backbone of the SDF, adding that they responded to the attacks and killed five YPG fighters.

ANHA claimed that Turkish forces also carried out an airstrike against Syrian regime forces in Kobane as well, killing 16 and severely injuring three others.

The UK-based SOHR also reported the attack on regime forces, saying 11 people were killed and eight injured but “it has not yet been known whether the dead people are regime soldiers only or civilians too.

The Syrian state media cited the army as saying that three regime soldiers were killed and six others were injured as a result of Turkey’s airstrikes on their positions in Aleppo province where Kobane is located.

The regime forces were stationed in Kobane’s bordering area in recent years following an agreement with the SDF in a bid to stop Turkish troops from advancing into the city.

Farhad Shami, head of SDF media center, said late Tuesday that “Turkish military aircraft have conducted 12 airstrikes against positions of the Syrian army deployed on the border strip west of #Kobane, causing life losses and casualties.”

Shami also reported the death of a child and several civilians in the Kobane attack.

Turkey carries out attacks against Kurdish forces in northeast Syria almost every day, sometimes causing civilian casualties. Ankara has repeatedly said that it does not target the civilians but “terrorists,” referring to the YPG which it claims is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

The Turkish army has carried out two major military operations against the SDF since 2018 and Turkish top officials are threatening to carry out a fresh offensive against the multi-ethnic force “at any moment.”